Latest news with #corrections
New York Times
12 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
No Corrections: June 20, 2025
Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions. To contact the newsroom regarding correction requests, please email nytnews@ To share feedback, please visit Comments on opinion articles may be emailed to letters@ For newspaper delivery questions: 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637) or email customercare@
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Online forum brings key voices to prison relocation discussion
Jun. 19—MITCHELL — Just one night after an in-person forum at Mitchell Technical Institute, residents and panelists reconvened online Wednesday evening for a virtual continuation of the state's prison relocation discussions. The format allowed for deeper exploration of operational and planning issues — and brought in voices absent from Tuesday's event, including Secretary of Corrections Kellie Wasko and Yankton Thrive CEO Nancy Wenande. Moderated by former Davison County auditor Susan Kiepke, the online session was structured as a Q and A, with the public submitting questions in advance and through the forum chat. Though the format did not allow for live public comment or rebuttal, it delivered key clarifications and expanded on the state's vision for a modern correctional facility. While Mitchell has become a frontrunner in the discussion, its inclusion represents a shift in strategy from earlier state planning. Originally, the state's search for a replacement prison was focused within 20 miles of Sioux Falls, aligning with a 2021 study conducted by DLR Group, an architectural and engineering firm that specializes in justice facility design. That study recommended a 160-acre site near Sioux Falls based on infrastructure, staffing, and logistical considerations. A more recent consultant report continued to prioritize the Sioux Falls area, largely due to workforce access. However, after the legislature failed to approve construction during the last session, Governor Larry Rhoden formed the Prison Reset Task Force to reevaluate options. The task force was tasked with considering all possible locations statewide. Twelve communities submitted proposals, including Mitchell, Aberdeen, Huron, Grant County and a smaller proposal from Yankton. A consultant narrowed the list to five sites based on multiple factors (though no single factor was decisive), and the committee ultimately eliminated Aberdeen, Huron and Grant County. Mitchell and Worthing are now the two remaining sites being analyzed for feasibility of housing a new prison with capacities of 800, 1,200, or 1,500 beds. Final site assessments will be informed by architectural and engineering reports expected at the next committee meeting on July 8. Wenande, though noting Yankton is not a finalist, said her community might still consider hosting a smaller facility and praised Mitchell's strategic location. "Mitchell may have an easier ability to recruit workforce because of their proximity to the interstate between Sioux Falls and Mitchell compared to Yankton," she said. Addressing a common concern voiced at the in-person Mitchell forum, Rep. Jeff Bathke (R-Mitchell), Davison County's Planning and Zoning Administrator, explained that state-owned property is not subject to local zoning laws. That means a rezoning process will not be required if the site near Mitchell is selected. Wasko addressed lingering public concerns with detailed information about the proposed correctional facility's purpose, design and staffing. A primary misconception, she noted, is that the facility would house only maximum-security inmates. "This will include all custody levels — minimum, restricted minimum, medium, and close custody," Wasko said. Most inmates will fall into the medium-security category, with some minimum-custody offenders working on prison grounds. It will not be a work-release facility. Staffing was another focal point. Wasko reported that uniformed staff vacancy rates have dropped significantly — from 35% to just 6 — 8% in the last 18 months — a sign, she said, of greater workforce stability. "We would not open an institution unless we had adequate staffing to open that institution," she emphasized. Wasko also addressed a key community concern: inmate re-entry. "No one walks out of prison into the host community unmonitored," she said, explaining that offenders leave in state vehicles, are picked up by family, or are transported to re-entry programs that begin 90 to 180 days before release. Design features were another major topic, especially regarding rural integration. Wasko described significant security and lighting advancements, including 300- to 600-foot setbacks from fences, perimeter detection systems and LED directional lighting designed to minimize light pollution. She added that noise would be minimal. "Very rarely will you ever hear any kind of intercom announcements," Wasko said. As for potential displacement of current corrections staff, Wasko reiterated her commitment to protecting jobs. "I will do everything in my power not to lose employees or lay any employees off," she said. Wenande shared her community's experience hosting a federal prison camp for over three decades. Located in the heart of Yankton, across from a school and football field, the facility operates with minimal disruption. "There was public concern in the 1980s, but now it's part of the community fabric," she said, emphasizing that no one has ever declined to move to or invest in Yankton due to the prison's presence. The aging state penitentiary in Sioux Falls, known as "The Hill," was built in 1881, before South Dakota achieved statehood. Ryan Brunner, a senior policy advisor and director of legislative relations in the governor's office, described it as "no longer safe for staff, the community, or inmates." Wasko added that remodeling the current facility is prohibitively expensive and dangerous. "The costs can be tripled or quadrupled when building inside an existing secure perimeter," she said. Operational limitations include outdated architecture, lack of rehabilitation space, and no room for vocational or educational programming. The current prison model — designed in an era of inmate lockdowns and quarry work — is misaligned with today's focus on treatment and re-entry, Wasko explained. Expanding the nearby Jameson Annex would also fall short: an additional story would add just 192 beds, and retrofitting its mechanical systems would be costly. Relocating 800 inmates during construction would be logistically difficult and cost $10 — 20 million in temporary housing alone. With current facilities at 133% capacity, the state lacks space to shuffle inmates for such a project. The next phase in the site selection process will occur on July 8, when architects and engineers present detailed site assessments. The Prison Reset Task Force will use that information to make further recommendations. As Wasko concluded the forum, she offered a final reflection on the prison's potential role in any host community: "Prisons can be good neighbors."
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
District court: Sexual assault charges held; shooting case continued
FRACKVILLE — A corrections officer at State Correctional Institution-Frackville accused of having sex with an inmate had her charges bound over to court Wednesday. Jocelyn Ebert, 23, of Pottsville, appeared before Magisterial District Judge Edward J. Tarantelli on a felony charge of institutional sexual assault and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing administration of law. State police alleged Ebert, while on the clock as a CO, had sex with an inmate multiple times over a months-long period, starting in 2024. After investigating, police found the two had engaged in sexual activity through the wicket on the inmate's cell door and in a closet on his cell block. After a brief stipulated hearing Wednesday, Tarantelli bound the charges over to Schuylkill County Court. Ebert, represented by attorney Nicholas A. Quinn, will have to plead guilty or enter a not guilty plea and request a trial in county court. Ebert was charged April 28, and her bail was set at $25,000 unsecured. Hearing postponed A preliminary hearing for a McAdoo woman facing attempted homicide charges was postponed Wednesday because a witness was absent. Jennifer E. Villa, accused of shooting at a man after a neighborhood altercation, appeared before Tarantelli on attempted homicide, aggravated assault and other charges. The judge granted the commonwealth's request for a continuance so that they could include testimony from a key eyewitness, who is currently away from the county on vacation. Villa has been jailed in Schuylkill County Prison since June 11 on $500,000 bail. The hearing has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 2.
New York Times
4 days ago
- General
- New York Times
No Corrections: June 16, 2025
Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions. To contact the newsroom regarding correction requests, please email nytnews@ To share feedback, please visit Comments on opinion articles may be emailed to letters@ For newspaper delivery questions: 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637) or email customercare@
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
Drones and contraband pose everyday challenges in Quebec detention centres
A seagull attacks a drone flying over St. Peter's Square as Cardinals are gathered in the Sistine Chapel for the Conclave at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Gregorio Borgia MONTREAL — On any given day, drones buzz in the skies above Quebec's detention centres looking to drop tobacco, drugs or cellphones to the inmates below. Statistics from Quebec's public security minister show staff reported 274 drones flying over provincial centres between January and March — or just over three per day. That doesn't include the 10 federally-managed prisons in the province. Corrections spokespeople and a drone expert say the problem is growing, dangerous and hard to stop, despite millions of dollars invested by provincial and federal governments. Stéphane Blackburn, the managing director for Quebec's correctional services, described the threat of airborne contraband as 'something we face every day.' The provincial figures show 195 of the 247 drones were seen dropping packages. Most of them — 69 per cent — were reported as seized. The province also seized 896 cellphones. But the data shows drone sightings have been growing gradually in recent years. There were 695 drone sightings logged from April 2021 to the end of March of 2022. For the same period between 2024 and 2025, there were 1,175. They're also increasingly being spotted outside Montreal. 'A few years ago, it was mainly in the metropolitan region that we saw drone events,' Blackburn said. 'Montreal has been subjected to the problems for several years now, and now we see a rise in drone events in certain regions.' Blackburn says the most common forms of contraband are tobacco and cannabis, although cellphones, tools and other drugs are also seized. In recent weeks, the province has announced an additional $38.5 million worth of measures aimed at curbing contraband smuggling. Those include technological solutions such as drone and cellphone detectors, and physical infrastructure including fencing or netting around windows and courtyards. Workers will also be using mobile X-ray scanners and body scanners to detect items once they've been delivered. The federal government also announced a pilot project in March that will allow correctional staff to use radio-frequency jammers to block wireless communication to drones and cellphones in federal and Quebec detention centres. Frédérick Lebeau, the national president of the Union of Canadian Correction officers, said the rise in drone drops in correctional facilities has been 'exponential' in recent years. 'We can talk about several drops a day — three, four, it depends,' he said. He said drops happen often when inmates are in the yard, and packages are quickly snapped up and hidden in body cavities or elsewhere. Sometimes, drones are flown directly to windows where inmates have dismantled the bars. He said the presence of contraband — including drugs and weapons — can create debts among inmates and allow criminal networks to operate, resulting in increased violence for detainees and corrections staff alike. 'It's really an ecosystem,' he said. 'If there are more debts, there's more violence. If there's more drinking, more drugs, there's violent (incidents) where we have to intervene.' Lebeau said that while new announcements by the different levels of government are 'a step forward,' many of the measures have only been put in place in a few institutions. In particular, he says there's a need for more jammers to stop drones from reaching jails and prisons, as well as body scanners to catch the drugs once they're dropped. 'It's not just detecting drones, we have to catch them,' he said. Jeremy Laliberte, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ottawa's Carleton University, says drones are an ideal tool for delivering contraband because they're 'ubiquitous, inexpensive,' and can be launched from kilometres away. 'The folks who want to do this can buy them for a few hundred dollars, modify them, remove any identifying information and launch them and not even worry about getting them back,' he said. He said the war in Ukraine — as well as domestic concerns about malicious operators — have spurred a growing interest in counter-drone technology, including better detectors that can locate both the drone and the operator. However, these systems are expensive and complex to develop, while 'the drones themselves are hundreds of dollars.' Laliberte said physical barriers such as fencing and netting as well as the detectors, jammers, and scanners can all work to protect detention centres, though he notes determined operators can find a way around any one measure. That's why he says a layered model that combines different strategies — the so-called 'Swiss cheese model' — has the best chance of success. 'There isn't going to be just one strategy that's going to be the magic bullet that stops everything,' he said. 'It's going to have to be a mix of things, because the technology, it's like an arms race. There's always going to be people trying to get better at this.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025. Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press
